COBOURG, ON (August 30, 2021) — The team at Big Clic have been head down working on a revolution in Destination Marketing that will take the tourism industry to the next level. “We’ve been working since January on the development of the platform, one that has been in the works for over 2 years,” says Big Clic Founder and CEO Jon Hill, from his war room in the coworking space at Venture13. Hill’s new platform is called The Weekend Route™: an app that helps users create road trips, discover new experiences, add unique stops, arrive on time, and make the best of adventuring along the roadways of the Great Lakes, from Eastern to Northern Ontario, from Minnesota to Indiana to upstate New York. The new “Featured Routes” section of the app highlights places like the Bay of Quinte for “Pizza, Patios, and Paddling”. Big Clic has partnered with Destination Ontario to promote these new thematic adventures.
And it’s not just for people planning road trips. The platform seamlessly integrates with a complex architecture of marketing tools allowing organizations to partner and collaborate in low-cost regional (and even cross-regional) advertising and promotion. Impact reports detail audiences and analytics, social reach and tracked success of campaigns in delivering visitors that spend dollars locally. The result is a solution that will enhance the tourist experience and the industry as a whole.
In creating The Weekend Route™, the team at Big Clic set out to capture genuine experiences, to highlight non-traditional communities and places that aren’t always part of the official programmes. While some category selections are populated by Big Clic’s Data Group (e.g. beaches, public pools) the majority is curated and vetted by an editorial team made up of adventurers in search of off-the-beaten-track experiences, one-of-a-kind eats, and natural wonders only locals know about. It’s sort of like the feeling of writing notes with a blue ballpoint pen on an old Michellin map, but embedded with a powerful technology stack and system architecture for advanced reconnaissance that will help you plan the most amazing and unique road trip.
Working with serial entrepreneur Jon Hill to achieve all of this is a cadre of young content creators from Cobourg, Port Hope and Brighton, along with other small towns across Ontario and Stateside, in places like Saranac Lake, New York and St. Ignace, Michigan. They are out touring, recording and sharing their road trips on The Weekend Route™ platform. For example, you can watch videos of Griffin and Romi heading to Amherst Island for a lakeshore cookout, or to Napanee for a slice at La Pizzeria. The videos are notable for their underproduced, casual and friendly quality. Trip reports give audiences an authentic window into small communities, remote roadways and the intriguing unexplored environs that are virtually at our doorstep.
“What we are seeing is the next chapter of the digital history of Great Lakes tourism being written from Venture13, the global headquarters of Big Clic and The Weekend Route™,” said John Hayden, Venture Catalyst at Northumberland CFDC. “Jon Hill is effectively reshaping how people will discover communities, businesses, restaurants and public spaces on both sides of the border. This was exactly the kind of technology product we hoped to see take shape from Venture13--with the support of ecosystem partners like the Innovation Cluster and through initiatives that back technology entrepreneurship in Eastern Ontario.”
“I’d like to commend Jon Hill and his team at The Weekend Route™ for this impressive launch,” said Mayor John Henderson, Town of Cobourg. “This is about inspiring local talent and tech, about jobs for young people in digital industries, and the importance of place-based initiatives like Venture13. Our economy will be stronger, more diversified and resilient, more vibrant if we continue to support innovators and entrepreneurs who, like Jon Hill, are committed to the growth and success of our community. And we’ll see you out on the roads, experiencing everything Cobourg and the Great Lakes region at large has to offer!”
To learn more, head to www.theweekendroute.com.
About Big Clic
Big Clic Inc (BCI) operates as a multi-faceted marketing tech development, data, media, and publishing company. The company develops and publishes vertical marketing tech platforms that allow our partners to lower their cost to market and measure their marketing impact. BCI also develops data-driven audiences and advertises to these on all in-demand channels through a best-of-breed, and platform agnostic, marketing tech stack. The BCI marketing tech stack is also utilized by publishers and agencies. BCI acts as a white label agency and provides full-service and omni-channel digital marketing execution for their clients. Through a focus on verticals such as economic development, post-secondary education and publishing, BCI can utilize the partner relationships developed to create new advertising and data insights revenue channels for clients. Visit www.bigclic.com
About the Venture13 Innovation & Entrepreneurship Centre
Venture13 is a 30,000 square foot innovation centre located in and owned by the Town of Cobourg, Ontario, just over an hour East of Toronto, on the shores of Lake Ontario. Venture13’s Board of Partners is made up of anchor organizations driving Venture13 activities, initiatives and programs, including Northumberland CFDC, Northumberland Manufacturers Association, Northumberland Makers and the Cobourg Police Service (CPS) which houses their business unit and secure data centre on the second floor of Venture13. CPS Corporate Services is the nation’s leading wholesale supplier of online Criminal Record Checks (CRCs).
Venture13 boasts an Innovation Commons, lecture hall, community kitchen, hardware MakerLab, seminar rooms, electric vehicle charging station and solar microgrid, fibre connection and (under normal operating conditions) a 24/7 accessible VentureZone co-working space. The VentureZone currently supports 14 member companies and entrepreneurs, including Canada’s first Microfactory Co-operative. According to BetaKit magazine, Venture13 “defines the small-town success story.” For more information visit www.venture13.ca.